FANN17, the fifth biennial celebration of architecture in Norwich and Norfolk, organised by the Norfolk Association of Architects (NAA), the local branch of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) runs throughout October, culminating in the annual Norwich lecture on November 2.  The festival features the work and ideas of the county’s architects, and outstanding work in Norfolk by architects from further afield: buildings, interiors, landscape design and master planning.

The main NAA Architects’ Exhibition at The Forum, runs from Tuesday 3 October to Friday 13 October, with other events in the city spread across October.  The 2017 Norwich Lecture at University of East Anglia featuring Peter St John from Caruso St John Architects winners of the 2016 Stirling Prize is on 2 November. 

Other highlights include a Pecha Kucha evening at Cinema City, architecture themed guided walking tours at UEA and in Norwich city centre, Hat-itecture  – children’s activities at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery during half-term and Architecture on Film – classic films at Cinema City in which architecture shapes dystopian landscapes.

Jerene Irwin, President NAA said: “The NAA is very excited about FANN17. The festival has grown over the years with a  variety of activities on offer. It aims to deliver a wide range of events that stimulate the public interest in architecture in Norfolk, by those that are passionate about it. It also gives local architects and artists the opportunity to engage with their widest possible audience. The Festival is very much aimed at the general public and it intended as a fun as well as informative. It is a celebration of architecture in the county and the work of local architects.”

For more information see www.fann17.org.uk. Full event list follows.  

Great British Buildings Talks and Tours: The Enterprise Centre

27 September, 5pm to 6.45pm, UEA Enterprise Centre 

The Enterprise Centre is an ambitious project that set out to be the first Passivhaus office building in the UK. The RIBA Awards judging panel said ‘The close collaboration and mutual respect of client and architect has been fundamental to achieve such a praiseworthy result.’ It will be the focus for the second of four talks in the Great British Buildings series in the East. Tickets £10, RIBA Members £7.50, Students £5.

Book tickets here: https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/riba-east-great-british-buildings-talks-and-tours-the-enterprise-centre

UEA Enterprise Centre, University Drive, UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ www.uea.ac.uk/adapt/the-enterprise-centre. Event contact Delyth Turner-Harriss, t. 01223 566285    email: [email protected]

FANN17 Norfolk Architects’ Exhibition

3 to 13 October, The Forum, Norwich

Traditionally held at the beginning of the festival, the FANN17 Exhibition showcases the high quality of work produced by Norfolk’s Architects. The exhibition will also include work by students at the School of Architecture, Norwich University of the Arts and the finalists of the FANN17 photography competition. Meetlocal architects and view the varied projects and designs from architectural companies of all sizes and see at first-hand the quality of design talent that exists in our county.

The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich NR2 1TF www.theforumnorwich.co.uk. Event contact:  Corrina Theobald, Feilden + Mawson, [email protected]

Abstract Playground AP1 Interactive

3 to 13 October, The Forum, Norwich

Screen-based, interactive digital artwork, housed in a custom designed arcade cabinet, in which participants press buttons to ‘play’ an audio visual composition derived from Modernist Architecture. Designed alongside people with Learning Difficulties on a D-Lab / LEVEL co-commissioned residency at Derbyshire’s LEVEL Centre, AP1 is accessible for people of all ages and abilities. 

Created by Will Hurt, [email protected], www.willhurt.net . The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich NR2 1TF www.theforumnorwich.co.uk 

Passivhaus – Architecture for the Anthropocene

A talk by Chris Parsons of Parsons + Whittley Architects. What is Passivhaus and how to deliver successful projects

5 October, 6.30pm, Boardman House (Norwich University of the Arts), 

Passivhaus is the foremost energy efficiency and comfort standard for buildings, and is increasingly adopted not just for dwellings but for schools, hospitals, community buildings and the like. Indeed there is no limit to the application of the standard to any building. Its concentration on fabric based energy solutions, before renewables, delivers excellent and long lasting performance with over 4000 such buildings worldwide, and a rapidly expanding collection here in the UK. 

Chris Parsons is a Certified Passivhaus Designer, Chartered Builder and principal of Parsons + Whittley Architects and is uniquely placed to interpret the design and practical delivery of Passivhaus. Chris delivered the first rural affordable Passivhaus scheme in the UK at Wimbish in Essex and has since returned to complete a further scheme at Wimbish II. Parsons + Whittley have won three Passivhaus Trust Awards for their projects, and the Lime Tree Passivhaus, in Swaffham, was a winner in the Norfolk Association of Architects awards in 2016. http://parsonswhittley.co.uk

Boardman House, Redwell Street, Norwich, NR2 4SL

Monumental by Hannelore Smith

6 October to 10 November, Thursdays 12:00 to 14:00 or by appointment

The Hudson Gallery

In Monumental Hannelore Smith presents recent work in response to architecture and the maker. With a grandfather a cabinet-maker, father an architect and husband an electro-mechanical engineer; she has spent her lifetime witness to the untold hours that go into constructing our environments. Architectural blueprints and the multitude of processes related to physical construction all inform her work and use of materials. She creates textural, monochromatic, compositional works using textiles, printmaking and 3D processes.

Event contact: Sian Davies t. 01603 766220, [email protected], The Hudson Gallery, 37 St Andrew’s Street, Norwich NR2 4TP http://hudsonarchitects.co.uk/gallery 

Architectural Walk – Memories of Boardman and Skipper

7 October 11-12:30, Explore the architectural legacy of Edward Boardman & George Skipper with Norwich Tourist Guide, Paul Dickson.

Meet outside Surrey House (Aviva); walk finishes outside the former Royal Hotel at the top of Prince of Wales Road.

Free. Booking essential, email [email protected], t. 01603 666011, (20 maximum on the walk)  

Architectural Walk – Memories of Boardman and Skipper

14 October 11-12:30, Explore the architectural legacy of Edward Boardman & George Skipper with Norwich Tourist Guide, Paul Dickson.

Meet outside Surrey House (Aviva); walk finishes outside the former Royal Hotel at the top of Prince of Wales Road.

Free. Booking essential, email [email protected], t. 01603 666011, (20 maximum on the walk)  

Architecture on Film at Cinema City

Architecture forms a fundamental part of our everyday lives, however it is often rendered in the background with little thought given to the presence of the structures we routinely inhabit, walk-through and visually absorb. Architecture can also be used as a medium to explore a range of themes, stories and events, especially in films where it is often used to provide an emotive tone to the scene or film, providing a background environment which sets the film in a particular genre and mood. For this year’s festival, Cinema City will be hosting a short series of films from across the last 100 years that use architectural formations in which to reimagine a dystopian landscape; in which societies struggle with themselves, in events which could destroy the existence of humanity. 

Blade Runner 2049 (2017), directed by Denis Villeneuve

9 October 8.15pm

This is a follow up sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic depicting Los Angeles in November 2019.  Both films take their inspiration from a science fiction novel called ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ published in 1968 by Philip K. Dick, which sets the story in a dystopian world where the earth has suffered from the fallout of nuclear war. Blade Runner 2049 is set 30 years after the film’s original protagonist Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) disappeared, following the journey of the new blade runner Officer K (Ryan Gosling), as he discovers a dark secret that threatens humanity. 

Akira (1988), directed by Katsuhiro Otomo 

19 October 8.15pm

Set in Tokyo in July 1988, based on the multi volume graphic novel by Otomo, Akira is a mythical and futuristic tale set in the wake of the city’s post-holocaust destruction by ‘psychic espers’ trying to force World War III. 

Metropolis (1927), directed by Fritz Lang

26 October 8.15pm

A film which looks to imagine the year 2026, in the city of Metropolis. As the wealthy industrialists reign from the high-rise towers, the underground-dwelling workers toil to operate the machines that provide power to the city.

Cinema City, St Andrews Street, Norwich NR2 2AD, www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City, t. 0871 902 5724

PechaKucha Night – quickfire presentations

15 October 8pm for 8.20pm, Cinema City, Norwich, NR2 4AD 

PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps – just about anything, really – in the PechaKucha 20×20 format. Norwich PechaKucha Night is hosted by Jason Bill of atelier bill architects

The presentation format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture. The first PechaKucha Night was held in Tokyo in February, 2003. Klein Dytham architecture organise and support the global PechaKucha Night network.

Free to attend. www.facebook.com/pkn.norwich, www.pechakucha.org/cities/norwich. Event contact: email [email protected]

Architecture Day

21 October, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

Help create a circular panorama of the city from Norwich Castle. Explore the city, understand its architecture and draw a particular section of the view. By the end of the day your drawing will be joined to create a collective panoramic of Norwich.

Castle Meadow, Norwich NR1 3JU, t. 01603 493625 / 495897, recorded information t. 01603 493648 www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Norwich_Castle/Whats_on/Events/index.htm 

Event contact: Ana Rute Costa, Lecturer in Architecture, Norwich University of the Arts, email [email protected]

Walking tour of UEA

22 October 11am, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ 

Walking tour led by local architect, Jason Bill, and focusing on the work of Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster and Rick Mather

Free – meet under the bridge by Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts www.scva.ac.uk 

Event contact: email [email protected]   

Hat-itecture – half-term activity

23 to 27 October, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

Explore the connection between hats and architecture. and make your own hat for your Halloween costume – age group 3-11.

Castle Meadow, Norwich NR1 3JU, t. 01603 493625 / 495897, recorded information t. 01603 493648 www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Norwich_Castle/Whats_on/Events/index.htm 

Event contact: Ana Rute Costa, Lecturer in Architecture, Norwich University of the Arts, email [email protected]

The 2017 Norwich Lecture

Peter St John, Partner, Caruso St John Architects, winners of the 2016 Stirling Prize

2 November 6.30pm for 7pm, UEA Enterprise Centre

Peter St John is a partner of Caruso St John Architects, which he founded in 1990 with Adam Caruso. The practice won the international competition for the New Art Gallery Walsall in 1995 and since then have acquired a reputation for projects in the cultural sector, including Nottingham Contemporary and the Millbank project for Tate Britain. The practice won the Stirling prize in 2016 for their Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall for Damien Hirst. The practice has offices in London and Zurich and is European in its outlook, with current commissions in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France and Sweden. Recently completed buildings include the 29,000 sq m Lycee Hotelier de Lille, and the 23,000 sqm Head office for the Bremer Landesbank in Bremen.

UEA Enterprise Centre, University Drive, UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ www.uea.ac.uk/adapt/the-enterprise-centre, Event contact:  Corrina Theobald, Feilden + Mawson,

[email protected]